Jakarta, yet again

I’m currently home in Jakarta and I had a ridiculously horrible flight.

I’m too busy enjoying the nice food and watching DVDs to discuss about it though.

That’s about it. More updates coming soon… Later.

Things I Remember about St Petersburg #1 – Mosaic Church

A beautiful, huge church with amazing multi-coloured domes.

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Last Photos from St Petersburg – Midnight Boat Trip, Griboyedov Canal

I know it’s odd to start with the last photos, but I just want to do so.

The reason why is that these photos were taken by my phone (Nokia N70) instead of my camera (Sony T70). Pardon the quality. Ahem. Anyway. I’m a big freak of categorizing I even had to separate photos taken by different devices. Heh. Don’t look at me like that.

On the last night we spent in St Petersburg, several friends and I decided to go on a midnight boat trip through the Neva River, THE river of St Petersburg. Why midnight, you ask. Well when we were in St Petersburg back then it was the season of “White Nights”. Sunsets are late, sunrises are early, and darkness is never complete (White Nights on Wikipedia). Needless to say, this is a rare event, once in a year period. After cursing the nights because we were not being able to sleep for nights (it’s always still bright!), it was only fair then to appreciate the beauty of these White Nights.

By the way, if you ever go to St Petersburg and would like to go on the same boat trip, I recommend you Anglotourismo.

We started the boat trip cruising along the Neva River (after passing Fontanka River – where we boarded the boat and Moika River). A lot of the landmarks of St Petersburg can be found on the sides of Neva River. 

We passed by Spit of Vasilievsky Island. The island was meant to be the city centre of St Petersburg, but it turned out that it wasn’t feasible to do so. As of why it wasn’t feasible, I can’t really remember. Hehe. It remains a completely beautiful island with a perfect view of Hermitage (the Winter Palace), and the architecture is perfectly symmetrical.

This is Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. Also known as Kunstkamera (Chamber of Curiosities), it originally served as a place for Peter the Great’s quirky and strange private collections of fishes/reptiles/insects in bottles and other science instruments. According to the guide, nobody really wanted to visit the museum when it was first opened (in 1719), so Peter the Great had to give free vodka and sandwich to the people just so they’ll visit!

This is the building of St Petersburg Academy of Arts. Most of St Petersburg’s best artists were educated here.

And here we go to the star of the boat trip : the drawn bridges!

They have to draw the bridges at night to let boats pass through. Just before the bridge is drawn, warning lights will light up and you can see cars quickly zooming on the bridge. That makes sense because if you don’t make it in time, you can get stuck for hours on the wrong side of the river

This is the Palace Bridge, the most famous draw bridge in St Petersburg. It has been on tons of  postcards, mugs, t-shirts, and God knows what else. I guess it’s easy to see why

Another shot. I love how the street lamps all go up too

The next bridge that went up – Holy Trinity Bridge. Unlike Palace Bridge that opens/draws at the middle, Holy Trinity Bridge only opens/draws the very last arch.

Does the Holy Trinity Bridge remind you of something…?

The company who constructed the Holy Trinity Bridge was the same one that constructed Eiffel Tower.

And that’s the end of our midnight boat trip.

On the very next day (our last day ever in St Petersburg), we went to walk on the sides of Griboyedov Canal. This canal is perpendicular to Nevsky Prospekt, THE road of St Petersburg. It also flows to the side of Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood. In case you need a reminder of how that beautiful church looks like…

So let’s see the church as it’s seen from the canal!

We also went to see this bridge called “Bank Bridge”.

There are 4 griffins decorating the bridge. At that time, the griffins were being repainted so you can see some patches.

By the way, right behind this griffin is University of Economics and Finance. Located very near to the main street of St Petersburg, I can’t help to associate it with SMU

That is all today. I’ll get other pictures up and about soon (I think…….).

Bigger photos in Facebook photo album : St Petersburg June 2009 – Midnight boat trip and Griboyedov Canal. I had to resize the photos in this blog post so that it doesn’t “overflow” from my post box.

Back in tropical Singapore + Last year’s Europe trip photos

Hello guys. Sorry for not updating for so long. I’m safe and secure, back in tropical, very convenient island of Singapore. Seriously, you can’t appreciate Singapore this much until you’ve gone to Russia.

St Petersburg was…. not like anything I’ve experienced. I missed Singapore (and Jakarta) so badly but at the same time was charmed by the city.

I will tell you more in the next posts, but right now I want to finish my last year’s duty : to talk about last year’s Europe trip.

You know I think I’ve found a reason why I’m too lazy to blog about last year’s trip. Because in every photo album I published in Facebook, I always included captions to explain the photos. Blogging about the photos was a redundant process, as a result.

So here I’m gonna give you all the links to my photo albums on Facebook. They’re open for everyone, so you should be able to see them even though you’re not my friend on Facebook. Sorry, no random friend requests will be accepted on my Facebook though

Enjoy, and please sit back for a while before my Russia write up.

Last stuff from Poland

Ship at Gdynia

Poland 24th and 25th of May

Went around Sopot once again and visited Gdynia, a beautiful seaside city

View from my hotel room in paris

Last day in Poland, one night in Paris

A very short album, just a “bridge” to the next days’ photos.

Rome , Italy

Me in Vatican city - amazing ceiling

Rome day 1 part 1 – Vatican City

Met my friend Maegan who was on exchange in Rome. She took me to Vatican City on day 1.

Castel d'Sant Angelo (yes, the one in the Angels and Demons movie)

Rome day 1 part 2 – Vatican City, Castel d’Sant Angelo, awesome dinner.

Still containing photos from Vatican City trip, some of Castel d’Sant Angelo and other buildings around Rome, then I had an awesome dinner with Maegan in a fantastic (cheap!) place called Carlo Menta in Trastevere.

Btw, this is how (authentic) Italian pizza looks like…

Me with Colosseum

Rome day 1 part 3 – Colosseum

Do I really need to explain?

Me at Trevi Fountain, Rome

Rome day 2 part 1 – I Love Fountains

What’s Rome without fountains? Visited the ever so popular Trevi fountain and numerous other fountains. Spanish Steps and Pantheon are inside.

Il Vittoriano

Rome day 2 part 2 – Rome here Rome there

Saw the remaining must-see landmarks in Rome. Cathedral of Rome, Foro Romano (Roman Forum), Il Vittoriano, Aventine Hill.

Rotterdam/Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Me, just arrived at Amsterdam

Rotterdam/Amsterdam

Quirky architectures at Rotterdam. And of course ever so notorious Amsterdam. Amsterdam is actually quite pretty and serene! But then I didn’t come at night, so….

Paris, France

Me in front of Notre Dame church

Paris part 1 – excluding Eiffel Tower

Truth be told, I didn’t really like Paris. To me it’s dodgy, old, and uninteresting (especially area outside the touristy stuff). I much much prefer Rome. But then I visited Louvre and Eiffel Tower – and I’m glad about that! No photos from Louvre, no Mona Lisa photo, because I didn’t bring camera that one fine morning! Krishna asked me to go to a flea market so I didn’t bring my camera. And unexpectedly he brought me to Louvre. Oh wells

Info for anyone planning to go Paris : the first Sunday of every month is always free entry to Louvre! (Yes I got the free entry! )

Lights on Eiffel Tower!

Paris part 2 – Eiffel Tower

How can you ever visit Paris without visiting Eiffel Tower right??

I have a story about the trip to Eiffel Tower. Krishna and I thought that it’s not really far from this area called Chatelet (we were watching a musical in French with Spanish subtitles – needless to say we didn’t understand anything. Visualization was superb though). So we walked along the Seine river. Turned out that… Eiffel Tower is ENORMOUS, so even if it looks near from Chatelet, it’s not. I think we walked for almost half an hour hahahahha.

Then we reached, and we found out that the ticket to the top was out! So we had to be contented with just a visit to the 2nd highest point (2nd floor).

However at 2nd floor we noticed a queue at a box-like room. Turned out it was the ticket machine to buy a ticket to the top! There was a guy inside who tried to buy tickets, but his credit card got rejected. Some others tried too, but rejected as well. Krishna and I finally got to use it, and Krishna’s card got rejected as well. Just for the sake of trying, I pulled out my card and tried to buy 2 tickets to the top. And guess what! It got accepted!

So Krishna and I finally got to the top in the end…

And that’s the end of my Europe trip stories (photos)! Haha. Watch out for Russia trip stories. I promise it won’t take a year. Really.

If you’re my friend on Facebook, jump the queue and take a look at my photos. I’ve posted them all up

A teaser….

St Isaac's Cathedral, St Petersburg

Off to land of onion domes and vodka

I’M SO EXCITED.

Yup. Last year my choir SMU Chamber Choir went to Sopot, Poland to participate in a choir competition. (I know, I haven’t churned out the blogposts! Please search for my photo albums on facebook)

This year we decided to go even further : St Petersburg, Russia! This time to participate in Festa Musicale. Last year we had a choir from the Philippines as our “fellow Asians” but this year I heard that the choir will be the only choir from Asia. That’s gonna be cool

Photo by neiljs

Yes. Russia. The land of onion domes and vodka. And matryoshka. And blini. And so many others.

It’s not exactly a tourist destination, especially when their visa requirements are quite strict and tight (btw I got my visa for free, courtesy of the embassy. How nice!). But every stories I read just made me even more eager to see this very country. Mystic, magical, that’s how I picture it in my mind. Let’s see whether my prediction is correct.

Now before going, I have to pack (a lot of things), and later have to endure a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong flight. Okay so I depart from Singapore, 13-hour flight to Amsterdam, 6-hour long transit in Schiphol, and then another 3-hour flight to St Petersburg (and who knows how long will the bus ride to our place be).

Nevsky Prospekt at night, photo by Geir Halvorsen

We’ll be staying near Nevsky Prospekt, a big road in St Petersburg which I found out to be the St Petersburg’s Orchard Road. Since it’s June and it’s Summer, St Petersburg will experience what they call “White Nights”. Simply saying, there will be no night! The sun sets very late (as late as 11 PM) and rises very early (as early as 4.30 PM) and in between there’ll be no darkness. It’ll be very beautiful!

Ok I’m off to packing (and this year I’m not bringing my huge suitcase – no thanks). I leave you with beautiful pictures from St Petersburg I found on Flickr. Thanks to all the photographers! Awesome works

White Night in St Petersburg. Photo by Becky Sullivan

White Night in St Petersburg (10 PM). Photo by Becky Sullivan.

Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood. Photo by chillihead.

Church of St John Baptist at Chesme Palace. Photo by Dystopos.

Peter the Great's Winter Palace. Photo by Edwin Land.

I’m home

It rocks. I love my car with my driver. And my piano. And my cable TV. Soon enough I’ll be watching DVDs non stop. Heh.

I love this city with all the irony. I love the city which has grand malls and luxurious apartments followed by slums and almost-torn-down homes and small coffee shops right at the next block.

It kinda reminds me about how everything is just never perfect. And can never be perfect.

And I feel the strong determination in my city. I don’t care if you say my people are slackers and whatnots. These people struggle to even survive, without thinking how to live a life. What’s life if surviving is hard?

One week, I’m gonna breathe the polluted air and eat food seasoned with dust from door-to-door hawkers. This is how millions of people live and I’m a part of them.

While of course, I’ll also enjoy the car and the driver at the same time.

24th of May – The Opera in a Forest

I know it’s been so long! Nevertheless here’s my entry!

24th of May, the last day of our competition

It was the folk music category.. Songs that we sang:

• Sohran Bushi (Japanese)
• Xiao Huang Li Niao/小黄鹂鸟 (Mongolian folk song, sung in Mandarin)
• Mamayog Akun (Philippines)
• Dayung Sampan (Singapore, with melody adapted from a Chinese song)
• Now I Walk in Beauty (Navajo traditional prayer, sung in English)

Pieroghi (dumplings)

Yummmmmmmmmmm

pieroghi!

Okay if you’re wondering.. I did eat two portions of pieroghi!

me and honey vodka

Hehe.. The first “gloomy” photo is my favourite photo of the lot! He even used it for his profile picture once

 

Mwahahahaha. Please don’t kill me, please. It’s just a joke

23rd of May – Sopot, Poland – Sacred Kebab

And thus it was 23rd of May, the first day of the competition.. It was the sacred music category.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures since I was, obviously, singing. My choir’s repertoire for the sacred category..

1. Ave Maria attributed to T. L. de Victoria
2. Exsultate Justi by Lodovico Viadana
3. Dona Nobis Pacem by Urmas Sisask
4. Salmo 150 (Psalm 150) by Ernani Aguiar
5. Didn’t It Rain arranged by Bob Chilcott

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